Petition launched calling for St Helens MP to resign

Andy Moffatt

A petition has been launched calling on St Helens MP Conor McGinn to step down for his part in a “coup” against Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

It follows speculation by some that Mr McGinn, Labour MP for St Helens North, helped co-ordinate the timings of the shadow cabinet resignations.

John Beecham, who launched a petition on change.org calling for Conor McGinn to resign as St Helens North MP

The petition was launched by John Beecham on the change.org website and has been signed by over 200 people, a tiny fraction of the 26,378 who voted for McGinn in the 2015 general election.

It reads: “Conor McGinn - if the press is to be believed that you are responsible for (or at least an instrument in) the coup against the Jeremy Corbyn leadership, then you are unfit for your position of St Helens North MP. Either provide evidence that you are not involved, or resign immediately.

“Since 1935, the constituents of St Helens (St Helens North/South from 1983 and St Helens South & Whiston since 2010) have exercised their democratic right to vote in Labour.

“Recently, the Labour party has been thrown into midst of a civil war with mass resignations in protest of our current leader Jeremy Corbyn. Recent press outlets (NewStatesman, the Canary, and even a cached version of the Sky website) have suggested the following:

“This mutiny has been planned for around six months - implying that this was not in direct response to Jeremy’s failure to keep our country in the UK as so many MPs refer to in their resignation letters.

“Now, from the bottom of my heart, I truly believe that Jeremy Corbyn is the best thing to have happened to the Labour party in recent years.

“He’s sparked interest in a nation of people previously disinterested in politics (more specifically socialism) by touching our hearts with his good, honest, altruistic nature and his clear desire to tend to the working class, eliminating austerity and ultimately creating a fairer society.

“Conor McGinn is not St Helens. He does not represent me, or you, or anyone else in this constituency. In fact, he actively chooses to silence people like you and me - he’ll block ‘heroes of the far-left’ on twitter if there’s a profanity or two. Where’s the democracy in that? Isn’t he meant to listen to those whose views are leaning to the left?

“Conor McGinn does not seek to unify the Labour Party, at least not under the rule of our Jeremy Corbyn.

I urge you to sign this petition, calling for Conor McGinn to answer to the accusations put forward to him and to resign if he is indeed responsible for this coup against the Labour leadership.”